Working from Home

Working from home, or WFH as the common moniker goes, is a trend fast gaining popularity. More and more companies, SMEs and MNCs alike, are giving their employees the freedom to choose the place they finish their assignments from. You can be Tahiti, sipping cocktails in the evening as you watch the Tuesday sun set. As long as you send in your deliverable in time, the managers hardly seem to be caring.

Working from home has become one of those highly envied practices that benefits both employers and employees alike. In a whitepaper by Microsoft, employees listed the following as the top perks of working from home:

1. Work/Home Balance

Almost 60% people voted for this being the primary reason for choosing to work from home. As one gets to spend more time at home, it becomes a personal sanctuary. This holds truer for new entrants who need to invest extra time to learn the ropes, apart from managing the deliverables.

2. Save Gas

With the rising fuel costs, work from home helps cut down the gas bills at least partially. It is not just about the to and fro commute. What irks more is the long duration spent stuck in traffic jams, with the motor running. Since for most of the consumers, their office may be far from home, savings on gas can add up to a substantial number over the month or year.

3. Avoid Traffic

The constant snail’s pace at which traffic moves during the rush hour is one of the primary reasons for road rage. A substantial chunk of the day goes in travelling to and from office, losing precious time, which could have been applied in more productive pursuits.

4. More Productive

If one can exert a little self-control in terms of the TV, pets, internet, etc., an average day working from home can be more productive than the same number of hours spent in office. Almost 45% of those surveyed thought so.

5. Less Distractions

Distractions at home are considerable less. There is no nosy co-worker coming to catch up every half an hour. It becomes easier to focus on the work if there is no background noise of people talking.

6. Eliminate Long Commute

This especially applies for those who live farther away from where they work. A one hour commute per day on each side adds up to 2 extra hours in your day, which in turn multiplies to 10 hours over the week. Just imagine the possibilities!

7. Quieter Atmosphere

Offices generally tend to be located in the heart of the city. There will always be traffic downstairs. Working from home eliminates these problems. The coffee machine is no longer running and the door is not being opened and closed every two minutes.

8. Less Stressful Environment

Working from home tends to keep people away from the office politics and its stresses. There is no manager who is looking over your shoulder or keeping an eye on your movements. One has more freedom to perform.

9. More Time with Family

When working from home, one can pack in more activities in day. The time spent picking your kid up from school becomes a precious bonding time. Moreover, it is true what they say – a family that eats together stays together.

While the employees welcome the move whole-heartedly, some employers are yet to be convinced by it. The cause for it is usually attributed to the apparent loss of control that the employer experiences. But as more and more companies move towards it, it is a practive which seems to be here to stay.